Public Square in Cleveland is about to get a much anticipated upgrade!... and no one is more excited than me!...well at least no one who I know. It seems as if I have something everyday to talk about when it comes to new and/or improved in Cleveland. I hope you all see that and instead of being annoyed by my blog posts, you should actually go "Wow, that's a lot of stuff going on!". It's a strange time for big cities. The trick is to keep the momentum going and not make the same mistake we made in the 2000's and fall asleep at the wheel for 10 years.
Now a days urban planners and designers are treating public places less like stone statues in a museum and more like the urban parks that they were meant to be. Colors, grass, trees, function, and purpose now replace low maintenance, no function, and concrete. With that being said and all of the wonderful pictures of the beautiful future center of our fair city... there are a few things I've learned in my life when it comes to looking at design mock-ups.
Now a days urban planners and designers are treating public places less like stone statues in a museum and more like the urban parks that they were meant to be. Colors, grass, trees, function, and purpose now replace low maintenance, no function, and concrete. With that being said and all of the wonderful pictures of the beautiful future center of our fair city... there are a few things I've learned in my life when it comes to looking at design mock-ups.
#1: Trees are Removable Fluff - Check out the image above. Looks great with all of it's pink and green trees and tiny spurts of shrubbery. Heck trees line Superior all the way to what looks like the bridge. They even line Rockwell and that's a just a road between 2 shitty surface parking lots. It's beautiful and green and inviting. Unfortunately the truth of the matter is trees are a line item in a budget that was set aside for this project. When push comes to shove and things need to be cut down (pardon the pun) you can guarantee the trees that line the streets are going bye-bye. Next, the distance between the trees are going to increase to about 3 times what was planned. After that, some randoms will get cut. In all reality we're going to have about 1/3 of the trees when everything is said and done.
Check out what everyone was told the mall was going to look like in the beginning compared to what it actually is today:
VS
Boy I hope those landscapers show up this spring to finish the project...
#2: If it looks too good to be true, it probably is - When it comes to any sort of urban design, you need to think of the future in terms of upkeep dollars and cents. City budgets change and if the 2000's taught us anything, the rug can be pulled out from under us quickly and without notice. In the shot below you see what looks to be people hanging out in the future public square in the winter (Sept-May) on an ice rink of sorts that would double as a fountain in the warmer months.
I love this idea and thought it was a no-brainer for many years. Get people out of their apartments and condos and down to Public Square to ice skate, drink hot chocolate, and Christmas shop. At least give them something other than 10 football games a winter to do! Hell I'd learn to ice skate and break my tailbone multiple times... if this was going to be in the final plans. This is a pipe dream. It's put in there add to the excitement and make the the overall plan seem more acceptable. Once shovels hit the dirt, this one is going to be a scrap on the cutting room floor. Too dangerous with a side of too many lawsuits. Plus we already have an outdoor ice rink in Wade Oval down in University Circle. 2 would just be exorbitant!
Think I'm being a Debbie Downer? Check out this article from 2010 and see what it said the Mall would have:
"-- Identifying ice skating rink locations. We have heard much interest from Clevelanders about an ice skating rink in this vicinity, and we are very excited to be investigating locations for rink, concessions, etc., with our engineering team first and secondly as one of the items to be studied and vetted with the Group Plan Commission. Possibilities for the locations studied so far (with various outcomes/some still being investigated structurally) include Mall C, the south edge of Mall B, and several of the urban room locations."
#3: Money and Time... And we don't have a lot of either - I like Steven Litt who wrote the Plain Dealer's article on Friday. He keeps all of our feet firmly planted in the ground and does talk about the task of securing funds in a time where this city is gobbling them up for all sorts of other big projects. There are ways to do it though. State and federal dollars are out there and corporations are always willing to shell out a few bucks here and there. Donations are always good too. $30 million in 5 or 6 months though is quite a feat. Let's hope there are enough people out there who are willing to grab a hold of this roller coaster of a renascence and help the city continue to re-brand itself.
"Above all, backers of the Public Square effort want to avoid the fate of other plans for parks, trails and civic improvements that have moved slowly in recent years, creating a sense that the city can’t follow through on big ideas for public spaces."
I love the idea. I love the pictures. I love thinking about how many times I'm going to picnic downtown once all of this is said and done. I'm happy that Land Studio is part of the planning. I'm excited... but hesitant. Here's to hope!
Want to see some of the other new and improved things going on with Cleveland, check out these posts on some of the different building projects around the city:
Do you love Public Square and want to see how much fun Gina and I had there at New Years Eve? Click-ady click click here:
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